Education News for 10-02-2012

State Education News

• Attorneys say T.J. Lane insane at time of Chardon High School shooting (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Lawyers representing the teenager accused of killing three students and wounding three others at Chardon High School earlier this year…Read more...

• Judge says teacher did not deserve to lose license (Columbus Dispatch)

A Columbus special-needs preschool teacher should not have permanently lost her teaching license after her attempt to restrain a 4-year-old student…Read more...

• Districts take innovative approach to teaching algebra (Hamilton Journal-News)

Struggling with algebra in high school often forces many college freshmen to take remedial math classes…Read more...

Local Education News

• Edgewood rolls out tablet program (Hamilton Journal-News)

Edgewood High School’s senior class received their Acer tablets…Read more...

• First-of-its-kind school to open here (Springfield News-Sun)

An agreement signed Monday will create the state’s first academy to train local students for high-paying…Read more...

• Oregon forums to explore shifting of grades (Toledo Blade)

The Oregon school district will hold a series of community forums this month to discuss the possibility of reconfiguring grades…Read more...

• School lunch goes high-tech with point-of-sale cards (Willoughby News Herald)

For many students, that sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach after realizing lunch money has been lost or forgotten is part of the past…Read more...

• Riverside School District will bring back teachers (Willoughby News Herald)

The Riverside School District has laid out exactly what it intends to bring back if voters approve a 3.9-mill levy next month…Read more...

• Will Issue 107 levy help class sizes? (WKYC)

The Cleveland Schools are struggling with large class sizes, but there could be hope with the passage…Read more...

• Schools see drop in real-estate distributions (Youngstown Vindicator)

Howland Local Schools saw a $780,000 drop in its most recent half-year real-estate distributions, Howland schools Treasurer…Read more...

Vote Yes on Issue 2 - Had Enough Early Vote Tour

The Issue 2 campaign is about to kick off a Vote Yes on Issue 2 - Had Enough Early Vote Tour. You can see their list of stops, and get involved, here.

This comes on the heels of the Toledo Blade endorsing a YES on Issue 2

Issue 2 on this fall’s statewide ballot enables voters to start to reclaim Ohio’s election machinery from the partisan politicians and their special-interest allies who now control it. The reform proposal merits a strong YES vote.

The ballot proposal would amend the Ohio Constitution to change the way district boundaries are revised for the state’s U.S. House delegation and the General Assembly after every federal census. Such redistricting largely determines the level of party competition within Ohio, a battleground state in national elections.

That process now is dictated by the Republican Party, which dominates the legislature and state Apportionment Board — and thus, the drawing of political maps. Republicans have rigged the maps in their favor, giving themselves the edge to win as many as 12 of Ohio’s 16 U.S. House seats and to keep control of both legislative houses for another decade.

Read the entire endorsement here.

The Big e-school rip off

The evidence is becoming clearer and clearer. E-School charters are a tax payer rip-off that delivers awful results.

At Join the Future we have focused most of our attention on the poor quality Ohio's e-schools have delivered. Providing the highest quality education is, after all, the most important aspect to schools. In article after article, we have highlighted the packed virtual classrooms, and the poor graduation rates they produce.

But now comes news that not only do they produce awful results in terms of educational quality, they are also a huge pay payer rip off. First for some context as to the scope of e-schools in Ohio

Enrollment in online schools in Ohio has passed 30,000, more than 12 times the number in 2000 when the first "virtual" school opened in the state.

Only Arizona had more students enrolled full time in online schools in 2010-11, according to an annual report by the Evergreen Education Group.
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Although scattered around the state, the online students combined would make up the third-largest district in Ohio — about the size of the Cincinnati schools. The online schools are charters, independently operated but publicly funded.
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Ohio's online schools have become a big business. The state paid online charter schools $209 million in 2010-11 to educate students, or an average of $6,337 per student.

Results are mixed at both for-profit and district-run schools. Online students have lower graduation rates than those at traditional schools. They attend college at a lower rate. At the same time, other measures have shown online students learning as much as, or more than, students in many districts.

It's a growth business. And reporting from StateImpact Ohio and the Plain Dealer indicate why

Robert Mengerink didn’t know how much an online school really costs to operate — until he started one.

When he learned this summer that the agency he heads, the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County, could offer a basic online program for less than half of what the state pays online schools per student, he was taken aback.
[...]
The cost? About $2,980 per student for a full course load all year.

That's more than 50% cheaper than the for-profit charter operations such as ECOT, and it's not an isolated example.

TRECA Digital Academy, another publicly operated provider of online K-12 education, says it can do it for about $3,600 per student.

That potential savings highlights questions that critics of online schools have been asking for years: What really happens to that taxpayer-provided money? Is most of it going to educate students? Or are schools pocketing a large profit while cutting corners for students?

That's a really good question. For a Governor and legislature that talks about reducing government spending so much, we are left wondering why they continue to allow such a laissez faire attitude to these terrible schools.

We recommend you read the full State Impact report, it really should open some eyes.

Education News for 10-01-2012

State Education News

• Schools no longer are no-cellphone zones (Columbus Dispatch)

More schools are embracing what was once considered a disruptive force in the classroom…Read more...

• Superintendents' benefits are best in class (Cincinnati Enquirer)

After Ohio cut nearly $2 billion from public-school budgets over the last two years, districts throughout the state cut hundreds of teaching jobs and froze teacher salaries…Read more...

• Online schools get millions in public support (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Robert Mengerink didn't know how much an online school really costs to operate…Read more...

• Boosters, PTOs must file reports (Columbus Dispatch)

The Ohio attorney general’s office will be keeping a closer eye on school booster clubs and parent-teacher…Read more...

• Auditors checking first 100 schools (Columbus Dispatch)

At least 40 of the 100 schools the state auditor is investigating for student-data manipulation are from six large, urban school districts…Read more...

• Many boards let school officers control access (Columbus Dispatch)

School-board members in the region say they need to know what’s going on in their districts…Read more...

• Ohio to get $1.27M for disability education (Middletown Journal)

Ohio is one of 22 states the U.S. Department of Education said will receive a share of $24 million…Read more...

Local Education News

• Federal Hocking, Rural Action partner to incorporate local foods (Athens Messenger)

As a line forms in the Federal Hocking Secondary School lunchroom…Read more...

• Marlington students digging the oil field with technology class (Canton Repository)

Anyone who thinks video games are a waste of time should talk to Marlington High School senior Bronwen Price…Read more...

• After-school option for CPS students (Cincinnati Enquirer)

In a sunny storefront on Hamilton Avenue in the heart of bustling Northside, Libby Hunter greeted her guests…Read more...

• Districts fail reading standard (Hamilton Journal-News)

Eight public school districts out of the more than 70 in the Miami Valley did not meet the state proficiency standard for third-grade reading on the 2011-12 Ohio Achievement Assessments, according to preliminary report card data…Read more...

• Vermilion schools drug testing results kept secret (Lorain Morning Journal)

Vermilion Local Schools have done two rounds of random drug testing of students since approving the drug testing policy…Read more...

• Grad rates remain steady (Marion Star)

While graduation rates have dropped throughout the state after a change in how it is calculated…Read more...

• Claymont BOE approves pact for classified workers (New Philadelphia Times)

Claymont Board of Education approved a new two-year contract Friday with its classified employees, which will require them to pay significantly more for their health insurance…Read more...

• Three retiring, and ask to be rehired (Portsmouth Daily Times)

Three people at the Clay Local School District have announced their retirement, and will ask to be re-hired…Read more...

• New Sylvania school menus on way (Toledo Blade)

Cafeteria food for students in the Sylvania school district is about to get an overhaul…Read more...

Editorial

• Levy battles (Columbus Dispatch)

A trend toward organized opposition to school tax-levy requests may seem like another sign of growing…Read more...

• Losing ground (Columbus Dispatch)

The experts are trying to explain away dismal SAT reading scores of the nation’s most recent batch…Read more...

• Data rigging clearly had huge effect (Columbus Dispatch)

When the school attendance-rigging scandal was revealed in June, many wondered how much better Columbus City Schools…Read more...

Where the polls stand - as voting begins

With two days to go before the first debate, the national and statewide polling continues to show President Obama in a very strong position.

In the Electoral College, Real Clear Politics calculates that the President has expanded his lead to 265 votes to Mitt Romney's 191, an increase of 28 votes for the President over the last 2 weeks.

The NYT polling analyst, 538, also shows President Obama with an increased projected win in the electoral college

In Ohio, the Presidents polling average lead is now outside the margin of error at 5.6%.

This spate of positive polling in Ohio, has President Obama now projected to have a 86.1% chance of prevailing - a full 10% higher than last week

Of further concern to the Romney campaign will be that early voting in Ohio and elsewhere is either about to begin, or already underway. There are going to be fewer and fewer opportunities to change voters minds before their vote is locked in.

Talking Points Memo also notes that the weakening situation Mitt Romney is finding himself in, is having an effect down ticket too. Republicans were favored to take control of the Senate earlier in the year, that chance appears to be receding, as Democrats have now taken leads in a number of swing Senate races.

Education News for 09-28-2012

State Education News

• Probe: Kids wrongly put in seclusion (Columbus Dispatch)

The Columbus school district has used its seclusion rooms — some as small as a closet, some reeking of urine or covered in spit…Read more...

• Area high schoolers learn financial responsibility (Lima News)

Most area high schoolers don’t think about retirement, buying a house or managing a mortgage on a daily basis, if at all…Read more...

• Mansfield case may have triggered state's new booster club law (Mansfield News Journal)

Mansfield City Schools Superintendent Dan Freund applauds a new law authorizing the Ohio Attorney General's…Read more...

• State report cards provide school districts with targets (Youngstown Vindicator)

Report card day has traditionally been a happy day for some kids and a day of trepidation…Read more...

Local Education News

• CPS is part of ongoing audit (Cincinnati Enquirer)

A statewide attendance-rigging investigation includes schools in the Cincinnati Public Schools district…Read more...

• Chief Eric Gordon: 'It's do or die time' for district (Cleveland Plain Dealer)

The Cleveland schools are in a position to greatly improve the education of the city's children…Read more...

• City schools to hire 2 bus companies (Columbus Dispatch)

The Columbus school district plans to spend $400,000 to hire two more school-bus companies for 60 days…Read more...

• Sizing up the schools (Warren Tribune Chronicle)

Niles City Schools Superintendent Mark Robinson said that although he's not pleased with his district's…Read more...

• Parents in Cleveland and across Ohio have choices (WEWS)

For parents of children in under-performing schools in Ohio…Read more...

Editorial

• Nasty surprise (Akron Beacon Journal)

The Akron school district has to refund all at once $3.2 million, most of it payments it should not have received from tax increment deals…Read more...

• Worth a look (Columbus Dispatch)

Foster care never is an ideal solution, especially for the long term. Frightened children whose homes are in crisis are sent to stay with strangers…Read more...